Anyone who believes that being a Councillor in Fremantle is just a walk in the park, should check out the agenda for tonight’s meeting.

The agenda for this evening’s Fremantle Ordinary Council meeting is a very long one and will probably attract a lot of people in the public gallery.

First agenda item is the very controversial proposal for a tavern at J Shed on Bathers Beach and the next item is about new terms of reference for the Design Advisory Committee.

There is the Overdue Debtors report, Audit and Risk update for Assets, Toy Library report, the implementation of the three waste bin FOGO (not to be confused with the FOMO retail concept for Kings Square), the lease with the South Fremantle Football Club for Fremantle Oval, request for proposals for the old Weighbridge in Phillimore Street, Sets on the Beach events at Port Beach. There will also be a motion to ban gas filled balloons in public.

The replacement for the Moreton Bay fig trees at Kings Square will also be debated. This will be a very expensive exercise, but I hear Council want to replace at least two trees with other mature Moreton Bay figs, so that will be nice in addition to the relocated London Plane trees.

The agenda is 229 pages long and there are additional agenda attachments as well, so anyone keen to read it all should download it from the City of Fremantle website.

I’ll be there at the meeting of course, so will report back to you about it tomorrow.

If Fremantle Council and the Heritage Council approve it two more Moreton Bay fig trees will be removed from Kings Square due to very poor health and public safety concerns. One of the trees is known as the Christmas Tree, estimated to be between 120-140 years old. Two Moreton Bay fig trees were already removed this week.

Independent arborists, including from the Eastern States, have assessed the trees and found them in very poor health with little hope of recovery.

A large 250mm diametre limb broke off in March last year and it was lucky that no one got injured.

As part of the Kings Square public realm concept Fremantle City is going to plant an urban forrest and relocate the plane trees south of the civic centre to the north of the Townhall.

It will take 18-24 months to source, prepare and transplant appropriate mature trees and the costs for it will be extensive. Council staff is investigating it but at present the cost are estimated to be between $ 15,000-40,000 per tree!

It will be sad to see the gorgeous old trees go, because they have been a real feature on Kings Square.

The removal of two sick Moreton Bay fig trees south west of St John’s church at Fremantle’s Kings Square started this morning, while preparation also commenced for the relocation of Plane trees from the south of the civic centre to the north of the Townhall.

The Queensgate building is now demolished so we should be seeing building activities and hundreds of workers pretty soon.

As I reported earlier this week Fremantle Council on Wednesday approved concept plans to upgrade public spaces in Freo’s historic Kings Square. Here some more details.

The key components of the $8 million upgrades which form part of the broader renewal of the Kings Square precinct include:

• more shaded areas, with a 5% increase in tree canopy
• over 2,300sqm of public gardens and grassed areas
• a new outdoor interactive children’s play space with artistic light and sound elements
• a designated church yard and urban garden area
• new paving and street furniture extending further out to the edges of the square
• a greater priority on pedestrians but with the retention of service vehicle access, universally accessible parking and vehicle drop-off zones
• flexible outdoor spaces for events
• wider footpaths to encourage alfresco dining
• historical interpretation including glass floor viewing windows to interpret the former church and other material found in recent archaeological excavations
• enhanced lighting and CCTV coverage.

Fremantle worrier Kel Smith is concerned about the big tree at the Esplanade and the huge branch that runs across Marine Terrace. He is worried it might break off and kill someone.

Near the public toilets and Vasco da Gama monument the City of Fremantle planted more new trees yesterday.

Driving along Marine Terrace on Thursday night I was surprised how dark the area is and wondered if there could be a string of small lights from tree to tree to lighten up the street and park and make it look more attractive and festive.

It must be election time, the cynic in me thinks, because the good news stories coming from the City of Fremantle are abundant.

This week we read that the vast majority of residents love to live in Freo, according to a CoF survey, and yesterday a media release came out about the City of Fremantle planting 500 more trees in streets and parks and 1,000 in bushland.

This, the blurb tells us, is in addition to the 20,000 plants and shrubs planted across Fremantle in parks and reserves:

The City’s urban forest plan forms part of its Greening Fremantle: Strategy 2020.

The strategy aims to progressively increase tree planting across the City to achieve at least 20 per cent canopy coverage.

To achieve this, the City has an ongoing tree planting and revegetation program and is integrating new trees into road and path upgrades where possible.

The City now even has a public relations officer, so stay tuned for a lot more good news between now and October 21.

Under the Local Government act the elected members can not direct the administration, so we will just naively have to believe that the marketing department is doing this all on their own accord. I just noticed some pigs flying over Beacy, as I am writing this. ; >)